Chiefs hopes in tatters

Hurricanes 35 Chiefs 10

When Rupert Murdoch signed a cheque for US$323 million to buy Super 14, he wanted entertainment. Last night in Wellington, he got tragedy, thriller and farce in an 80-minute blast of rugby that fulfilled the showbiz mantra of 'always leave them wanting more'.

Of course it left us wanting more - we had the possibly never-to-be-repeated sight of a hooker, Andrew Hore, claiming a hat-trick of tries. Even Murdoch would have realised Hore was giving him extraordinary value for his dollar.

The tragedy was a burden exclusively for the Chiefs to bear. Defeat has left them in need of a miracle to make the playoffs and God, as Reds captain Chris Latham was so keen to point out, is obviously not harbouring a soft spot for Hamilton.

The farce was a theme the game found hard to shake. From as early as the second minute, there was the ludicrous sight of Jerry Collins dancing inches from his own tryline as if he had been robbed of his boots and pushed on to hot coals. A spate of knock-ons later and Rodney So'oialo suffered the indignity of trying to kick for touch only to miss the ball, spin round and tumble over. He just needed a water-squirting flower on his lapel and oversized red shoes to really finish off his act.

In fact, no one was exempt from making some sort of contribution to the error count. Hardly surprising really, as the rain lashed for most of the first half and, needless to say, it was blowing a gale. Tension, too, must have been a factor. The Chiefs were playing for survival, the Hurricanes desperate to close the gap on the Waratahs so they can go to Sydney in the final week with a chance of securing a home semifinal.

All the slapstick prevented either side from building momentum. But there were enough periods of continuity for Hore to pull off his incredible feat. He earned his right to dine out for years on his exploits but lest the story should become exaggerated, all three tries saw him travel no more than a total of 10m.

Hore was the man fortunate enough to be at the core of some solid Hurricanes driving. His second, with 15 minutes remaining, was particularly well-timed as it came just as the Chiefs were threatening to make a game of it. The excellent Sam Tuitupou did what he knows best and put his head down and charged - right through every yellow shirt in his path. He made it 16-10 and there was hope, until Hore decided the night belonged to him and Shannon Paku secured a late bonus point.

Hore might have been the headline act but there were a couple of individual battles that proved compelling.

Chris Masoe and Marty Holah probably don't exchange Christmas cards, not since the Hurricanes openside sneaked ahead of the Chiefs captain in the All Black pecking order.

The pair would have preferred the game had some width but they simply adapted by getting on with the business of knocking lumps out of each other much closer to the breakdown.

Holah remains a genius at contorting his body into places it shouldn't be able to fit and while he can't match Masoe for power in the ball carry, he showed last night he can make a more effective contribution than the Hurricanes man around the fringes.

This time last year, it would have been stating the obvious to say the same of Byron Kelleher compared with Piri Weepu. But 12 months appears a long time in the lives of Kelleher and Weepu.

Kelleher made one thundering hit on Weepu in the opening minutes that dislodged the ball and had one clean break down the blindside when the Chiefs managed to slightly wheel the scrum.

But those mini-highlights aside, it was Kelleher who played the apprentice to Weepu's sorcerer. It was Weepu punching the holes close to the breakdown and it was Weepu who had the look of a gamebreaker.

Hurricanes 35 (A. Hore (3), S. Paku tries; D. Holwell 3 pens, 2 cons; J. Gopperth con)
Chiefs 10 (S. Tuitupou tries; S. Donald pen, con)